Favorite Hello
by Madaboutagirl
Summary: S12 begins Callie has a girlfriend and the new candidate for Chief has a past with Arizona, who will get Chief and how will it affect Calzona? Everything belongs to ABC/Shonda. CALZONA is end game!
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Couldn't resist fixing S12 before it disappoints us! Here's my take on how they could make Joey Lauren Adams character be a catalyst for Calzona! This will be Calzona, I promise.**_

* * *

"Here's the list of candidates for Chief, there are two from out of town and those are scheduled for first of next week, then we'll interview the internal candidates. I have the CV packages on the first two interviews and I'd like you all to look them over, then we'll meet on Friday and decide who will conduct the first round of interviews and determine the criteria they will need to meet to indicate a second round of interviews to take place while they are here. Are there any questions?" Jackson asks and no one has any, so he hands out the packets.

Arizona looks down at the names of the two candidates and quickly glances over to Amelia a little flustered. Callie notices this and curiously looks at the names. William Carson and Victoria James. Okay, so obviously this Victoria means something to her ex, judging by the look of panic on her face. Opening the packet Callie sees that sure enough the woman is from Hopkins, she is a beautiful blonde, a few years older than her. Wow, Arizona and this woman would have made a beautiful couple. But then we made a beautiful couple too, Callie reminds herself. Then glancing over to the blonde, Callie realizes that she and Amelia are already heading out the door. Shoot, now I'll have to track her down later to find out what's going on.

Meredith too noticed Arizona's reaction to the CVs, so she makes her way over to Callie and asks, "What was that about?"

"I have no idea. I don't recall Arizona mentioning this woman from Hopkins," Callie admits.

"Well I hope its not anything serious, because on paper she looks pretty good." Meredith points out.

"Yes, she does. Do you want to get together and look these over, I'd like to be in on the first round interviews." Callie replies.

"You just want to check her out in case she's an ex that you don't know about." Meredith says, "And I don't blame you."

* * *

The rest of the week, Arizona manages to dodge Callie's attempts to ask about the candidates. She sends her questions with Amelia, who Meredith selected to take Derek's spot on the Board. Amelia, Callie and Weber have been selected for the first round of interviews. Meredith, Arizona and Jackson will take second round if it's warranted.

"Hey, I took first round interviews with Callie, but you're stuck with second round." Amelia says later that afternoon stopping by Arizona's office to let her know.

"Okay, well maybe there won't be a second round." Arizona says hopefully.

"You know if you said something to Jackson, he would reconsider the selection." Amelia points out.

"Oh I just need to get over it. It was a long time ago and I'm sure she doesn't even remember it. I'm not going to let something like this affect someone's career opportunities." Arizona says dismissing Amelia's concern, but wondering if what she's saying is true.

"You still haven't really told me what happened between you two. Did you date?" Amelia asks her friend.

"Not exactly. Look, you're going to be interviewing her, so I'm not going to tell you the dirty details. It's not fair for anyone to be measured against something that happened in in their past. I know that I've changed a lot since then, so I'm sure that she has too." Arizona admits.

"Okay, fair point. But just remember we have that meet and greet breakfast on Tuesday with both candidates, then the interviews and possible second interviews. Anyone promising will then be taken to dinner by the whole board," Amelia reminds her.

"No problem. I'm sure it will be fine. Callie and Meredith have been asking me a lot of questions and I don't think she's going to like her anyway, so she won't get very far." Arizona replies.

"Oh, well that's not really fair. We're interviewing her, she shouldn't get kicked just because your ex is jealous of her." Amelia points out.

"Damn, that's a good point, which is a shame because was an excellent Chief Resident. I'll tell Callie that she is not an ex-girlfriend, that should help." Arizona suggests.

"Good idea, I just want us to pick the best candidate; and you're sure that whatever happened between you isn't going to be a problem?" Amelia replies.

"No." Arizona says with confidence that rings hollow to her own ears, but Amelia seems to not notice.

* * *

Monday morning and Arizona is dropping Sofia off at daycare, she'll be taken to kindergarten by bus later that morning. As she's leaving the daycare she runs into Callie.

"Hey, how was your weekend?" Arizona asks her.

"Oh it was good. We went out dancing Friday and Saturday, she's loves to dance." Callie replies, she doesn't really like to discuss who she's seeing with her ex, but at the same time, she did ask.

"Oh fun, and you do love to dance." Arizona comments, "Are you ready for the first round interviews tomorrow?"

"Yes, but are you sure you don't have anything to add about Dr James, you were at Hopkins together, surely you remember her?" Callie prods.

"She was a few years ahead of me, she was a great Chief Resident, but I didn't really interact with her there." Arizona replies carefully.

Callie pauses and waits, she's unsure what Arizona is saying or not saying, while she considers whether to press the issue, the blonde is paged and leaves quickly.

Maggie approaches her and notices something is up, " Callie, are you okay?" she asks.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine." Callie says impatiently.

"Oh I'm sorry." Maggie says thinking that she has offended her.

"No, it's okay. I'm sorry. I just had a weird conversation and I'm trying to process it." Callie says shaking it off. Then turning to face her, she asks, "Did you work with Dr Victoria James when you were at Mass Gen?"

"Oh I did, she's awesome. Why are you asking about her?" Maggie asks.

"She's one of the candidates that Catherine Avery sent us for Chief." Callie replies as they turn to walk towards the elevator. Maggie has lots of information about Dr James and Callie listens intently.

* * *

"What did you find out?" Meredith asks Callie when she stops by the lab later that morning.

"Arizona just said she was a great Chief Resident but didn't really work with her much?" Callie replies and watches Meredith's reaction.

"Bullshit, she was a second year, how did she not interact with the Chief Resident?" Meredith asks.

"Well, her brother died that year, so it could be possible that they had little interaction. But what bothers me more is that when Arizona was Chief Resident, Dr James was the Chief of Trauma, so how could they not really know each other?" Callie asks, then adds, "Maggie knew her from Mass Gen and had a lot to say about her."

"Oh, I didn't even think to ask her if she knew her. Good job Cal." Meredith replies. "Did you ask if she's a lesbian?"

"NO!" Callie replies loudly, "Meredith, I don't want people to think I'm the jealous ex or worse that I'm cruising chief candidates. Besides, I am seeing someone, Arizona will eventually, so I just need to deal with it." Callie reminds herself and Meredith.

"That's true. I'm kind of surprised that she hasn't dated anyone in the last two years, but she did have a lot on her plate." Meredith admits.

* * *

"Dr Robbins." Arizona says into her phone when it rings late that night.

"Arizona?" The female voice asks.

"Yes, who is calling please?" Arizona asks, but she knows who it is. Even ten years later, she recognizes the voice.

"Are you being coy or mean?" The woman asks.

"Tori, its been a long time..." Arizona replies.

"It has." She agrees. "I understand that you're on the Board of Grey-Sloan, so I wanted us to get our awkward conversation out of the way now and not in front of everyone in a board room."

"I see." Arizona replies, a little relieved actually, she had thought of calling her, but as a board member it seemed inappropriate.

"Well, I was pretty sure that you wouldn't reach out to me. So I just say I'm sorry. I didn't know that you were seeing her, or I never would have taken her home from that party." Tori confesses.

"Tori, it was a long time ago. It makes no difference at all today." Arizona replies, relieved that is all that she mentions. Maybe she doesn't remember that night, the blonde considers.

"I just don't want a stupid misunderstanding from years ago to bite me in the ass now. I'm ready to leave the East Coast and your hospital is impressive. Callie Torres and Miranda Bailey are breaking new ground in ortho and Genome testing, not to mention your one of the most sought after pediatric surgeons and now a fetal specialist as well. I am really looking forward to this interview and I am going all out to get this position." Tori confides.

"Well, we have a number of good candidates applying and a few are internal." Arizona says, unsure what else to say.

"How many internal candidates?" She asks.

"Two. I probably shouldn't say much more about it. It's not fair to the others." Arizona replies, before adding, "Thank you for calling and I'm sure that we'll see each other at some point tomorrow."

"I'd like that. Good night Arizona." Tori says before hanging up.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning Arizona is called in early for surgery, so not only is she is late to the meet and greet breakfast but she's wearing scrubs to it, not Board Member attire.

"Hey, good you're here." Jackson says once she arrives. "Let's introduce you," he says taking her arm and leading her over to where the two candidates are standing talking with Bailey and Weber.

"Dr William Carson, meet Dr Arizona Robbins." Jackson begins and then they turn to Tori and Arizona interrupts him.

"Tori, so good to see you again. I'm sorry Doctors, but I just got out of surgery." She begins.

"What type of surgery did you just complete?" Tori asks her.

"It was placenta accreta case that we've been watching. We had the C-section scheduled for later this morning, but she went into labor early this morning." Arizona explains.

"Placenta accreta? Did the mother survive?" Tori asks.

"Oh yes, I developed a cauterization method that stops the blood loss, I just haven't published it yet." She replies.

"Wow, that's impressive. I'd love to hear all about it." Tori says moving closer to her.

"You can read all about it when she publishes, right Dr Robbins?" Callie says stepping into the conversation, having watched her entrance and noting that she greeted Dr James by a nickname, the brunette is feeling a bit more insecure about this woman being a candidate for Chief.

"Yes, that is true Dr Torres." Arizona replies stepping back and letting Callie into the conversation.

"Well I look forward to reading it." Tori says smiling at Arizona, then she smoothly directs her focus on Callie.

"Dr Torres, I'd love a tour of your lab, your work is really impressive. I read an article on how you're modifying current prosthetics to enable our wounded veterans to have increased mobility. I found it fascinating." She says flashing a smile and admiring the Latina's legs, this woman really fills out a business suit, Tori thinks to herself.

"Oh, yes. We can arrange that. In fact, you can see one of my prosthetics right now." Callie says excitedly and looking over at Arizona for permission.

"Callie, this is not appropriate." Arizona says hoping to discourage her from showing off her leg.

Caught up in the moment, Callie replies, "Oh it's totally appropriate, we're all surgeons here and you just completed a 4 hour surgery on one of my prosthetics. Let me just show them the ankle and knee joints." Callie asks, beaming a big smile at the blonde.

Reluctantly Arizona agrees and Callie quickly drops down and pulls up the leg to her scrubs and begins showing them the flexibility of the joints. Tori forgot that Arizona had lost a leg, but the familiarity between the two indicates that they are more than colleagues. Dr Carson bends down to get a closer look and suddenly Arizona starts to lose her balance, Tori notices and steps into the blonde who falls back against her.

"Oh," Arizona says surprised when she lands against the other woman.

"No problem, I've got you." Tori says softly into her ear. Funny, she always saw the younger woman as a rival and didn't notice how attractive she is.

"Arizona, I'm so sorry. I guess we shouldn't do this here." Callie says standing up quickly and pulling the blonde off the other blonde, and surprised by the twinge of jealously that she's feeling.

"Dr James, thank you." Arizona says turning around to face the other blonde a little embarrassed.

"My pleasure," she replies flirting a little bit with her, then adds, "it wouldn't be in my best interest to let one of the board members fall at my feet."

A bit surprised that Tori is flirting with her in front of Callie, Arizona steps back to excuse herself.

"Um, it was great meeting you both and good luck, but I need to go check on my patient in post op." Arizona says hastily excusing herself and glaring unhappily at Callie before she grabs a donut and leaves the room.

"Well at least we know that she's a lesbian." Meredith whispers into Callie's ear.

* * *

After the morning session, the two doctors are given a tour of the hospital by a couple of interns and Bailey. Then they are brought back to the executive board room, where they are interviewed one at a time.

Dr Carson goes first, so Tori decides to wander around. She gives the executive secretary her phone number and and asks her to call her when it's time for her interview.

Dr James makes her way to the OR floor and looks at the board to see what's going on.

"Can I help you, Dr James?" Maggie asks when she spots her standing in front of the OR board.

"Oh, hello Dr Pierce. I'm waiting for my interview and thought that I would observe a surgery while I wait." She explains.

"Well, I'm about to go in to repair a congenital heart defect on a seven year old, Dr Robbins is assisting." Amelia replies. "We're in OR 4." She says as she walks away.

* * *

"I think you have a fan." Maggie teases the blonde as the scrub in to surgery.

"What are you talking about?" Arizona asks.

"I'm pretty sure that Dr James is going to be in the gallery watching this surgery." Maggie replies.

"Why? Why do you think that she's my fan and not yours?" Arizona counters.

"Because I just ran into her in front of the OR board, and I'm pretty sure that she was looking to see if you were on the board, so I told her we were operating in OR 4." Maggie explains.

"Whatever, I'm sure that she's just nervous before her interview and wanting to kill some time." Arizona replies.

"That's one explanation." Maggie replies playfully. "Don't forget that I know Dr James, and you, my friend are totally her type."

"You're wrong Maggie, we were rivals. It's not what you think." Arizona tries to explain. "It was all just med school drama and a long time ago. It's not even worth talking about now."

"Hmm, okay." Maggie says as she finishes scrubbing and backs into the OR with the blonde following her.

"Oh look, we have a guest." Maggie says looking up at the gallery.

"Seriously Maggie, shut it." Arizona says sharply.

* * *

"Dr Robbins, do you have plans tonight?" Maggie asks as they scrub out of the two and a half hour surgery.

"No, why do you want to do something?" Arizona asks.

"Actually, I was just being nosy," she teases.

"You need to stop. She's not flirting with me, and if she is it's a misguided attempt to influence a board member." Arizona replies. "Besides, trust me Callie is more her type than I am."

Just then both of their pagers go off and they finish scrubbing out and look at them.

"Perfect." Arizona exclaims, before reading the text, "A second interview will be conducted this afternoon at 4 pm, followed by dinner."

"Well, I guess that I have plans now." Arizona replies sarcastically. Then she adds, "I have to prepare for the second round interview, can you do the post op?"

"Okay, did they say who the candidate is for the second interview?" Maggie asks and she takes off her gown.

Arizona just smiles and takes off her gown and leaves the room.

* * *

Reading the notes from the first interview, Arizona makes some notes for follow up questions and then carefully reviews the CV and makes additional notes. Then because she has time, she googles the candidate and makes additional notes.

"Hey are you ready for this?" Meredith asks, stopping by Arizona's office.

"I think so. I've just reviewed everything and taken some notes. How about you?" She asks.

"Oh, I'm ready. I met with Callie after the first round and she helped me come up with some follow ups. How was your surgery with Maggie?" Meredith asks.

"Oh, it went really well." Arizona replies. "So now we're going out to dinner, right?" she asks.

"Yes, we are, but Jackson hasn't decided where we're going." Meredith advises. "He made reservations at two different restaurants. It's either going to be Altura or The Gregorian."

* * *

It's after six, when they finish the last interview and dinner reservations are at seven. Arizona decides that she needs to run home to freshen up, so she asks Jackson if she can just meet them at the restaurant, since she's been in surgery most of the day and it's more convenient for her and he agrees.

Meredith and Jackson decide that they will pick up Dr James and take her to Altura and the others will meet them there.

Callie picks up Sofia and Zola from their after school program and drops them off at Meredith's house where Maggie is just pulling up with Bailey and Ellis. "Are you sure that you're okay with all four kids? Callie asks her.

"It's fine. Stephanie is going to stop by after work and check on us." Maggie confesses.

"Oh good, because the girls can be helpful, but not always." Callie advises her. Then turning to the two girls she asks them to help Aunt Maggie.

* * *

Arizona decides to just cab to the restaurant and not deal with driving or valet parking or anything. It's been a long day and she just needs some pampering tonight.

Walking into the lounge, she spots Meredith right away and makes her way over to her, before realizing that Jackson and Tori are right there with her. Tori also freshened up and now she wearing slacks and a beautiful silk blouse and she is stunning.

"Hello Meredith, Jackson," Arizona says greeting them warmly and kissing each cheek. Then to Tori, she says, "Dr James, so nice to see you again," and she extends her hand.

Taking the offered hand, Tori smiles and says, "So we meet again, Dr Robbins."

Why is she being so charming? Arizona asks herself. Is this normal candidate charming or is it something else?

Meredith watches the two women and notes that Arizona doesn't quite know what to do with Dr Jame's flirtations. A few minutes later and the others arrive. Callie also managed to change for the evening and she's wearing a gorgeous dark blue dress with silver heels.

Interesting Meredith thinks, all three of them took the time to freshen up, smiling, she nods to Jackson and he takes hold of Dr James and leads her to the table as the rest follow. Meredith hangs back and walks with Arizona.

"What do you think of our candidate?" Meredith asks softly.

"She seems very capable. Honestly, I like her much better than Carson and I really didn't think I would." Arizona admits.

"Oh, I agree. I expected to like Carson more, but I don't. He reminds me of what I didn't like about Hunt." She admits.

"The last thing we need is another Hunt." Arizona agrees.

"Well, she's definitely no Hunt." Meredith replies. "She was Chief Resident during your second year at Hopkins?" she adds.

"She was, but that was the year Tim died and I almost dropped out of med school." Arizona replies softly looking straight forward and watching Jackson and Tori being seated at the table and the others filling in around them, leaving three two spots beside Callie, Meredith takes the far one which puts Arizona between them, directly across from Tori.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: As I often do, I've gone back and tweaked the previous two chapters. Sorry, I probably should use a beta or take more time to develop the story before posting, but I was kind of excited to start this one and get it done before the S12 premier this week.**_

* * *

Noticing Arizona's fake 'everything is fine' smile plastered on her face, Callie leans over slightly resting her arm across the blonde's back and whispers in her ear, "Are you okay?"

Arizona turns towards her and they lock eyes for a moment, blue eyes soften a bit and a small smile crosses her face, "Yes Calliope," she says softly and slightly leans back into the touch.

Meredith glances over and sees the two of them all cozy and gives Callie a questioning look, so Callie slowly removes her arm and turns to talk to Bailey on her other side.

Amelia is sitting on the other side of Meredith and she looks around and realizes that everyone is talking among themselves, so she asks, "Dr James, what makes you want to move from East to West?"

Glancing across the table and then correcting her gaze down the table, the blonde smiles at Amelia and smoothly replies, "Well, Dr Shepherd it seems that some of the best of East eventually moves to the West."

"Oh that is a good point," Meredith agrees. "Although I grew up on both coasts, half of us moved here from the East coast."

"I didn't, I moved here from Miami. But then this is the farthest I could get from my family without living in Alaska." Callie says joking.

They all share a laugh and then Jackson orders a few bottles of wine and everyone starts to relax a bit. The dinner is long, but they all share some fascinating stories about past cases and each other.

Tori realizes that this is a really tight group. She's almost got it all figured out. Amelia is Meredith's sister-in-law, Callie and Arizona are divorced, Meredith and Weber have almost a father/daughter thing going, since he was a resident with her mother. Jackson and Meredith have almost a sibling bond, maybe since they both had surgeon mothers. Bailey and Callie were residents together and Meredith and Arizona survived a plane crash together.

"Dr James?" Jackson repeats to get her attention.

"Oh, I'm sorry Dr Avery. I was just taking it all in." Tori explains, smiling around the table.

"I just wanted to say, I think I speak for all of us when I say thank you for coming out and meeting with us. I know that this hospital probably wasn't even on your radar, until my mother mentioned it to you." He adds. "But your knowledge of our facility has been impressive. You certainly did your research."

Pausing a moment to collect her thoughts, Tori replies, "Actually, I almost submitted for this position the last time it was available, but the timing was bad for me personally. I've been following Dr Torres' cartilage work, as a former college athlete, I may need some work on my knee soon." She says lightly, smiling at the Latina.

"Oh, I've had great success with the WNBA team and have helped a couple of their athletes avoid knee surgery with my cartilage project." Callie says excitedly.

"Dr Torres is one of the team doctors for the Seattle Storm, WNBA team and the Seattle Sounders, men's soccer team." Meredith explains.

"Don't forget the Seattle Reign women's soccer team." Callie adds. "I just started working with them."

"Wow, Dr Torres. That is impressive." Tori exclaims.

"Well, I was hoping to get on the Seahawks team of physicians, but until Marty over at the University hospital retires, I don't have a chance. Though with the cartilage project, I've consulted on a few of the players."

"How interesting.." Tori says focusing on the woman across from her until she notices that she's a little nervous by the attention.

Turning to Arizona, Tori asks, "Dr Robbins, I understand that biking is really popular here, do you still bike?"

Everyone turns to Arizona surprised by this, as they've not known this about her.

Callie blurts out, "Biking? Arizona?"

"Tori, I haven't biked since I graduated med school and could afford a car." She says smiling and everyone laughs.

"But really, you were a biker?" Callie asks.

"My apartment was close to campus and I didn't need a car, so I just rode a bike. I'm sure everyone here had a bike at one time." Arizona asks deflecting the attention.

They all look around the table, Arizona is so private, this is a rare glimpse into her past. Amelia jumps at the chance to ask, "Wait, did you wear bike gear?"

"She did have bike gear." Tori confirms then adds, "how many races did you compete in?"

"A few, again, it wasn't a big deal. It was just a stress relief, Callie you played softball, Meredith was it lacrosse?" Arizona asks her friends, again deflecting the attention.

"Wait, don't you have a bike in that storage unit. I never understood why you kept that storage unit after we bought the house," Callie says turning to face the blonde beside her.

"Um Calliope, this is perhaps a conversation that we don't need to have now. Later, okay?" Arizona says putting her hand on the Latina's leg to get her attention.

Glancing down briefly at the contact, Callie agrees and then turns back to face the group. "Well this was certainly interesting, I didn't realize the two of you were friends in Med school." She directs at Tori, still distracted by Arizona's hand on her leg, Callie moves her hand on top of it and smiles discreetly at her.

"Oh we weren't actually. We, uh, just had friends in common and well, Dr Robbins was pretty hard to miss. She was top intern and resident each year of med school. Even though I was ahead of her, she was the one to watch. I've followed her career, we both were mentored by Dr McCale and he continues to measure his students against her." Tori explains, turning her gaze back to the blonde.

Uncomfortable by the attention and then realizing that her hand is still in Callie's lap, Arizona fidgets and carefully withdraws her hand. But sensing her discomfort, Callie slides her hand back over and squeezes her hand before letting go completely.

"Dr McCale is a fan of yours as well Dr James," Webber interjects. "He spoke highly of your time as Chief Resident and mentioned that he recommended you for Trauma Chief at Boston Gen, where I believe that you beat out a few more seasoned Trauma surgeons for that position."

"Yes, that was rather surprising for me to get that position and after almost ten years, it's time to move on and explore new opportunities." Tori replies.

The rest of the dinner goes by smoothly and soon they are heading out. Callie stops Arizona and offers to drop her off at her place. Meredith goes home with Amelia and Jackson and Webber take Dr James back to her hotel.

"Well that was certainly interesting," Callie says as they get in the car.

"It was weird, I didn't realize she knew those things about me. I don't really know much about her at all." Arizona says still a bit uncomfortable by the attention at the dinner.

"How is it, that I didn't know that you were into biking?" Callie asks putting the car into gear and backing out.

"Because when I moved to Seattle, I put my bike in storage and haven't biked since." Arizona explains.

"I get that, but what I don't understand is why." Callie turns slightly as they stop at the light.

"It's a long story and not that interesting." Arizona replies, staring into her soft brown eyes full of concern.

"Okay, I'll let it go for now. But this was nice, we don't ever just spend time together any more and I'd like to. Could we get together for lunch soon or dinner?" Callie asks, pulling up in front of Arizona's building.

Admitting to herself that it has been nice to spend time with the brunette, Arizona surprises herself by asking, "Would you like to come up? I have a new tea that you might like."

"Oh, well it's not that late. Sure, I'd love to see your place again." Callie says smiling happily.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: I love that many of you are enjoying this as much as I am. I can't wait to finish it for you...**_

* * *

"Let me put the water on for tea and I'll be right back," Arizona says as they enter the condo.

Callie nods and takes a moment to admire the room, its bright yet comfortable, just like Arizona. Then spotting photos on wall, she wanders over to look at them. There's one of Sofia that she hasn't seen before and then she notices one of herself and Sofia that she hasn't seen before. "When were these taken?" She asks the blonde.

"From their last visit, Mom sent them to me." Arizona replies glancing up and beaming a smile in Callie's direction.

"Can you send it to me? I love it," Callie says turning around to face the blonde and noticing the smile, it's the one that the blonde reserves for her family, it makes her eyes crinkle, which is giving her little crows feet, Callie thinks idly.

Agreeing to send her a copy of it, Arizona adds, "It's one of my favorites, you both practically have the same expression."

"Oh my gosh, you're right. She's totally my mini me in this photo." Callie says laughing and enjoying the exchange.

Walking back into the room, Arizona hands her a cup of tea and gestures to the couch for her to sit down.

Sitting down, Callie suddenly realizes how long of a day the blonde has had. "How are you doing? I just realized that you've been up since early this morning. Do you need anything?" Callie asks.

"Now that you mention it, I'm going to go grab my crutches and get more comfortable." Arizona replies.

"Oh, let me. Where are they?" Callie asks.

"If you don't mind, they are in my bathroom." Arizona replies to Callie's surprise.

Walking into the bedroom, Callie realizes that the blonde must be pretty tired to let her help. Then walking past the bed, Callie spots a familiar photo on the table beside the bed. It's one of the last family photos that they took together. Then remembering what she's doing, Callie steps into the bathroom and grabs the crutches and heads back out to the living room.

"Here you go." She says as she returns to the room. "Oh, I'm sorry..." Callie says as she realizes the blonde has already removed her prosthesis and she has some swelling.

Kneeling in front of the blonde, Callie quickly examines her stump and it's tender to the touch.

"Let me get you some ice, that looks painful." She says moving quickly back to the kitchen. She easily finds the ice pack in the freezer and heads back to the couch. "Here this should help." She says applying it to the area.

"Ah, yeah. I should have known that I was pushing too hard today." Arizona says wincing as the cold contacts her skin.

Sitting right down beside her, Callie lays her arm across the back of the couch without thinking she gently kneads the blonde's shoulder where she carries her stress. Then realizing what she's doing, she smiles embarrassed.

"It's okay. It feels nice." Arizona says sinking into the contact.

"Here, turn a little and I'll get that knot that you always have that's so tight." Callie says and the blonde turns to give her access.

"Hmm," Arizona can't help but moan at the feel of Callie working the knot out of her neck and shoulder.

After a few minutes, Arizona reaches up and stops Callie's hands. "I didn't invite you up here so you could wait on me," she says softly. "But thank you, it's been awhile since..." her voice trails off as she decides not to say anything further.

"It's been a while for me too." Callie says removing her hands and taking Arizona's and holding them. "But why did you invite me up here?"

Smiling nervously, the blonde takes a breath and stares at their hands.

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I-I-I miss you and this thing with Tori was weird and I just wanted you to know that there's nothing in the past or the future with her. I dated one of her exes and then she dated one of mine, but that's where it ends, she and I never even hung out or anything else. Okay?" Arizona asks checking in with the brunette.

"Okay, thank you for explaining that. I couldn't help but wonder, she's very attractive." Callie replies.

"That she is, charming too. I'm sure that you noticed." Arizona adds.

Suddenly realizing that they are still holding hands, Callie slowly lets go of the blonde's hands and picks up her tea and takes a sip. "Oh, I do like this tea." She says, taking another sip or two. Then sitting it back down, she leans over to check her leg again. "This looks better, you should probably ice it again before you go to bed." Callie advises.

Yawning, Arizona quickly covers her mouth and Callie smiles.

"Speaking of which, I should get out here and let you do that," the brunette adds.

"Okay," the blonde says a little sadness in her voice.

Callie hears it and it makes her sad, she catches herself about to reach out again.

"Uh don't get up. I can let myself out." Callie says as she takes one more sip of her tea. Then remembering that Arizona is on crutches, she takes her cup to the kitchen. "Can I do anything for you before I leave?" She asks thoughtfully.

"You've done too much already Calliope, thank you." Arizona says pulling herself up on the crutches.

"Would it help if I just take you tea and the ice pack and set it on the bedside table for you?" She asks.

Smiling at the brunette's thoughtfulness, Arizona nods and Callie quickly grabs them and takes them into the other room.

Walking back into the living room, she is surprised to see the blonde leaning against the couch waiting for her.

"Sorry, I just worry about you and I wish..." Callie trails off, she shouldn't complete that sentence, she knows better.

Standing up, Arizona reaches over and takes her hand. "Don't worry about me, I'm really good," she says strongly.

"I know, it's just what I do, you know?" Callie admits a little nervously.

"Thank you," Arizona says softly, so many things want to pour out her, that she bites her lip to hold them back.

Callie notices it and almost leans in to kiss her, then catches herself and awkwardly turns around to find her purse and then picking it up she nervously says, "I-I should probably go now."

Closing her eyes for a moment, Arizona collects herself and pushes off the couch to follow the Latina to the door.

"Calliope," she says softly and the brunette turns around. Lightly, Arizona brushes her lips across the brunette's cheek and says, "Thank you again."

"Uh, you're welcome." Callie stammers, then adds "Good Night Arizona," and she slips out the door.

* * *

Down in her car, it takes the brunette a moment to collect herself. They haven't spent that kind of time together in a while and she is surprised to find herself tingling at the interaction. It's been awhile since she's reacted like that to Arizona's touch and it's a stark contrast to how her current girlfriend makes her feel. Suddenly remembering that she was supposed to call her after the dinner, Callie pulls her phone out of her purse and notes that she has three missed calls and a text. Setting the phone up to link to the car, Callie returns the call and puts the car into drive.

"Hey, where have you been?" Penny asks when she answers.

"Oh I just gave Arizona a ride home and we were talking." Callie replies.

"Why did she need a ride home?" Penny asks.

"It doesn't really matter, she did and it was on my way. Sorry that I didn't let you know, but we don't have plans tonight." Callie points out.

"No, but I thought since you didn't have Sofia maybe I could come over." She asks softly.

"Oh," Callie replies, how had that not even occurred to her? she wonders.

Then the brunette adds, "Well, it's kind of late and I have an early day tomorrow..."

"Okay, okay. I get it. You know Callie, we've been seeing each other for a few months now and we've yet to really spend time together." Penny points out.

"We just spent last weekend together," Callie counters.

"Come on Callie, you know what I mean. Sleeping in the same bed after a night of dancing is great and all, but are you not attracted to me? You seem like you are, but you then you always stop short of us really... connecting." Penny replies.

Waiting a moment as she tries to think of a response, Callie considers how to respond.

"Callie?" Penny repeats her name.

"I'm still here, I'm just, this isn't a good time for this conversation. Can we talk about this tomorrow?" Callie asks her.

"Whatever." Penny says hanging up.

"Perfect," Callie says out loud to herself.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Okay, I'm running short of time this week. But I'm really going to work hard to get this story wrapped up before the premier Thursday night, which I will miss because my cousin is getting married and I'm the officiant. Obviously, she doesn't watch Grey's. I've got one or two chapters left!**

* * *

"Are you ready for this?" Meredith asks stepping into Callie's lab.

Glancing up, Callie nods and carefully finishes the adjustment that she's making on a new prosthetic arm.

"Yeah, let's get this over with," Callie says impatiently as she goes to her desk and grabs her stuff and follows Meredith out.

"Hey," Amelia says joining them at the elevator. "This is the last thing right?" She asks, clearly ready to be done with the interview process.

As they step off the elevator they spot Arizona and Tori chatting in the hallway. Its been two weeks since the dinner and Callie has been caught up in a weird cycle of avoiding the blonde and also making up excuses to see her. It hasn't helped that she and Penny had the 'It's not you, it's me' talk and have barely seen each other. Made worse since she's Bailey's new fellow and Bailey's one of the finalist for Chief. Watching Tori and Arizona talk, Callie looks around for Bailey and she is talking with Jackson. The three of them pause and Amelia heads over to Arizona and Meredith goes towards Jackson, Callie hesitates, then Webber approaches her.

"Dr Torres, it looks like we're all here. Let's get everyone into the conference room. Will you stay out here with the candidates a moment?" He asks.

"Oh, I guess I can do that." She says a little nervously.

"Dr James, Dr Bailey please wait here with Dr Torres. The rest of you let's go in and get set." Webber says loudly.

"Good to see you again, Dr Torres." Tori says as she approaches the brunette. "I just read your latest journal piece that you and Dr Shepherd published on nerve controlled prosthetics, very interesting."

"Oh you read that already? It was just published." Callie says a little surprised that she would have a copy of it so quickly..

"Well I got an advance copy on-line," Tori says winking at her. "There are a few perks to publishing regularly." she adds.

"Yes, I know." Bailey says joining them, a little annoyed that Callie being friendly with the enemy. Where's her loyalty? Miranda asks herself. "It was impressive Dr Torres, Dr Shepherd and I were discussing it yesterday." Miranda adds hoping that Dr James gets the message that this is her turf.

"Well, good luck to both of you." Callie says stepping back from the two doctors. "Let me just check and see who's going first, I'll be right back."

Entering the room, Callie walks over to Jackson and glares at Webber, "Who should I bring in first? She asks.

"We've all agreed that Bailey should go first, Dr Torres do you agree? Webber asks her.

"God yes, just don't leave me out there with the two of them any longer. I'll bring Bailey in." Callie says rushing back out of the room.

* * *

Taking a break between candidates, Callie joins Arizona at the coffee cart.

"Hey that was a really good question that you asked Bailey." Callie says complimenting the blonde.

"Thank you Calliope, I thought your question was good too. Wow, look at us. It seems like it was just a few years ago, we were being interviewed and now we're on the other side of the table!" Arizona says excitedly.

"I'm not sure which is worse." Callie remarks as she pours herself some coffee.

"Oh, being interviewed is definitely worse. We have it easy, two awesome candidates to choose from," the blonde says sipping her coffee.

"Uh, are you not realizing that if we don't pick Bailey she will be unbearable for the next year?" Callie asks her.

"I don't think so. She and I had a long talk last week about what is best for the hospital and I pointed out that as a Board member and head of General Surgery she already has a lot of responsibility.

"Well you weren't out in the hall with them before the interview." Callie says joking, "She looked at me like I was a traitor just for talking to Dr James."

"What were you talking about?" Arizona asks quickly, then mentally kicking herself.

Raising her eyebrows in shock, is that jealousy? Callie wonders, then answering the question she replies, "Dr James was complimenting me on the journal article that Amelia and I just published."

"How did she get it already? The site just published it this morning and she was flying?" Arizona asks, realizing that she still sounds a little jealous. Damn Tori, she thinks. How is it that she still gets to me after all this time.

"Apparently regular contributors get advance copies or something." Callie says dismissing the topic, but still intrigued that Arizona seems a little jealous.

"Okay everyone take your seats," Webber bellows, "Jackson is bringing in Dr James."

* * *

Amelia and Meredith ask the first few questions, then Jackson asks a few fairly tough questions, one of which he didn't ask Bailey. Arizona and Callie both notice and exchange a look.

Webber asks a few questions and then it's Callie's turn. She came up with a few questions based on reading some of Dr James' published articles about past cases in the ER.

One of the questions must of hit a nerve, because Arizona notices that Tori is a little flustered. But then she recovers and answers the question strongly, although it rings a little hollow.

Arizona makes a note to ask a follow up question, then looking up, she realizes that it's her turn.

"Dr James, going back to the previous question regarding the ER case, could you expand upon how you came to decide that course of treatment? I'm sorry but it wasn't clear to me in your previous response." Arizona asks.

"I'd be happy to clarify that for you Dr Robbins." Tori responds, wondering how on earth they would know to ask about this case. She was reluctant to write it up, but the Chief of Surgery personally asked her to so she did, the article was then edited by the panel, she didn't agree with all of the edits, but let it be published with them. Taking a deep breath, she decides to admit to the omission.

"There was a slight omission in the article as it was published." Tori begins to explain. "There was an intern in the trauma room when this case came in and he asked me a few questions out of ignorance, but as is often the case, it's those questions that help us look at things differently. I included this in the original article but it was edited out by the panel. They felt that it added a distracting level of detail and took away from the case study."

"Was the intern promoted to resident?" Bailey asks.

"Oh yes, he was. In fact, he's a fifth year now and being considered for Chief Resident." Tori adds.

* * *

Once the interviews are over, they all take a short break before they reconvene for their dinner meeting to decide who to hire for Chief.

"Hey, I've got to run to check on patients, are you going to visit Sofia?" Arizona asks Callie as they walk out to the hall.

"Yes, that's the plan. I'm meeting the sitter and she'll take her to the house. Do you want to see her before she leaves?" Callie asks.

"No, but if you don't mind I'd love to come by in the morning and take her out to breakfast and then I'll just drop her off at school." Arizona asks.

"She'll love that. Would you mind if I join you? I have a late start tomorrow." Callie explains.

"Oh great, that would be awesome. She'll really like that." Arizona says smiling at the brunette. "Now we just need to get through tonight."

* * *

Dr James crosses the hallway and looks for Dr Bailey. "Dr Bailey?" She asks.

Turning around, Bailey is surprised to see her. "Yes Dr James, is there something that I can do for you?" Bailey asks curiously.

"Let's get out of here and go grab some dinner," Tori suggests, "Yes, I just overheard you talking to whoever and they can't, but I can and we should get to know each other. You know just in case we have to work together."

Holding up her hand, Bailey gets back on the phone. "No, it's fine. I'm going to grab a bite to eat and we can drive home together after your surgery." Bailey says into the phone, then hanging up she turns to the blonde. "I know just the place, let's go."

Following Bailey down the hall, Tori asks her about her phone call. "I understand that your husband is a third year here." She says trying to develop rapport with the other doctor.

"He is, he was an anesthesiologist here before he decided to become a surgeon." Bailey explains, "I mention it because I don't want you to think that I'm one of those attendings who dates residents. He was an attending when we began dating."

"Okay, I get it." Tori replies smiling at the woman's concern of what she thinks. "I guess that you think poorly of attendings dating residents?" She asks.

"It's been a problem in the past, so yeah I do and we have a policy against it." Bailey replies looking at the blonde judging whether she's one of those attendings. "I hope that you understand these residents are here for us to train and mentor, not jump into on-call rooms with."

"Oh, I understand that Dr Bailey. I've never dated a resident. Well, except when I was a resident." Tori adds to clarify.

Walking into Joe's they take a booth and Bailey orders a burger and ice tea, while Tori orders wings and a beer.

"How did your interview go?" Tori asks.

"It was good, actually they asked me a couple of questions that I really wasn't sure how to answer and these are my colleagues and friends." Bailey admits, then asks, "How was yours?"

"The same actually. I can't believe this is their first time doing this. This was one of the toughest interviews that I've been through and I've interviewed at Boston Gen, Chicago Central and Miami Gen," she explains.

"Really? Well Boston Gen is an impressive choice. How did you find time to interview at all of those hospital at once? Bailey asks.

"Oh I didn't. I've been looking for another position for the last two years. It's time to leave Boston, you do know that your hospital is one of a few with a genome lab, full body MRI, ground breaking Ortho lab and then you have one of the top Pediatric surgeons who is also a fetal specialist? As a teaching hospital those are quite remarkable programs, I intend to develop a Trauma fellowship that will rival the ones at Boston and Miami." Tori confides.

"Yes, I did know that and I'm very happy that you know it too." Bailey admits to the other doctor. Carefully, Miranda reevaluates her competition and smiles, the conversation with Arizona suddenly comes back to her and she understands now what she was getting at. This woman would make a great Chief, she appreciates what they've done and still wants to do more.

Taking out her phone, Miranda excuses herself to make a phone call. Then coming back to the table, she notices that their food has been delivered, so she sits back down to eat.

"Is everything okay, Dr Bailey?" Tori asks as she begins to dig into her wings.

"Yes, now eat up. We need to get back to the hospital in half an hour." Bailey says smiling as she cuts into her burger.

* * *

"What just happened?" Callie asks entering the board room running a little late.

"Bailey called and she put her vote in for Dr James." Arizona explains.

"Bailey doesn't have a vote, she's a candidate." Callie replies confused.

"Exactly," Meredith replies. "I saw them leave together, I think they went to Joe's."

"Arizona, what did you say to Bailey?" Callie asks softly pulling the blonde aside.

"Callie, I just reminded her that this wasn't personal and that we've done a great job of rebuilding this hospital and that's why we need to make sure to pick a candidate who can bring something to the table to help us continue to build and grow." Arizona explains.

"Oh, that's really good." Callie says admiring the blonde's grasp of the situation.

"Okay everyone, let's get situated. Nancy will bring in the food in a few minutes." Webber says standing at the end of the table. I've placed cards in front of you for each candidate and on the cards is a checklist and place for questions, I want each of us to go through the cards and fill them out with everything you know about the candidate and list the questions that you want answered. Then we'll review the cards and pool our knowledge, I've done this many times and believe me when I say this more helpful than you realize. So please take the time to do it properly."

"Dr Webber, is this really necessary? Bailey herself conceded to Dr James and I think we all like Dr James, so let's just make the offer?" Amelia suggests.

"Dr Shepherd, thank you for the comments. But Bailey isn't on this committee and she's not been privvy to the other candidate's interviews, so humor me and let's follow this process in its entirety." He says daring anyone else to challenge his guidance.

"Thank you Dr Webber, since this is our first time hiring a chief, it will be good for us to go through the process." Jackson says backing him up. Then he takes his pen out of his lab coat and picks up a card and begins filling it out.

After a few minutes, they all have their heads down filling out the cards, when Nancy rolls the cart in with their dinners.


	6. Chapter 6

**_A/N: Here's your Calzona for the day! Hopefully, I'll have time to get the next chapter out tonight after work!_**

* * *

"Hey good morning!" Arizona says when she spots Callie and Sofia at their favorite breakfast spot.

Standing up, Callie greets her with a hug and as they pull away a light kiss on her cheek. Then feeling a bit awkward about it, she sits back down quickly.

Arizona has to just smile, it's a reflex, she knows because she's always reminding herself not to do it.

"How's my baby girl today?" She says leaning over and kissing her daughter's head.

"Momma, I'm not a baby." Sofia protests.

"I know sweetheart," the blonde replies, "You're a big girl who goes to school now."

The server stops by and Callie orders coffee for Arizona, while she's talking to their daughter about school.

"Sofia did you decide which pancakes you want, we need to order when she comes back with Momma's coffee." Callie reminds the little girl.

"I want the banana chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate milk," Sofia announces.

"Sof, you know the rule, you can have plain milk or chocolate chips on your pancakes. So which is it going to be?" Arizona asks her, beating Callie to the bad cop role.

"Momma, I really want both." Sofia pouts and bats her pretty brown eyes.

Arizona smiles and looks over at Callie as if to say, you taught her this move and you know how I am about it.

"Sofia," Callie says getting the little one's attention, "What's it going to be plain milk or just banana pancakes? Do you want me to decide for you?"

"Plain milk." Sofia says sadly.

The server returns to the table and Arizona orders for herself and Sofia, then glancing over at Callie she asks, "Are you having your usual?"

Callie nods, this is one of her favorite things about her ex, she remembers things like what Callie likes at their favorite restaurants.

"Hey, I just want to say that I'm still amazed at how that went last night. I never thought Bailey would come around like that, I wonder what Dr James said to win her over like that?" Callie exclaims to the blonde.

"Well, I may have given Dr James some advice on how to handle Bailey." Arizona admits.

"Oh?" Callie says surprised that Arizona has been in contact with the candidate.

"Yes, she stopped my office yesterday morning and wanted to talk with me about her plan for the Trauma fellowship, since she knew that I had started the Peds fellowship when I took over the department here. Listening to her talk about it, I realized that she was going to bring new energy to this place and I found myself excited about that." Arizona explains.

"I will admit that when she mentioned it in the first interview, it was one of the reasons that I picked her over Carson. Then when she expanded on it yesterday, I was all but sold on picking her over Bailey." Callie admits.

"I could tell that she scored a lot of points when she described it in depth, so I told her at the break to talk to Bailey about it. Because I knew that everything Bailey was planning, she could do as head of General Surgery, so this way we get both programs up and running." Arizona replies excited about the prospect.

"Well, it will be interesting to see how Jackson negotiates the contract, he certainly wants to make sure his Mother's influence is limited on Dr James." Callie remarks.

"I don't think Tori is beholden to Catherine Avery," Arizona replies. "I get the impression that she only recently found out that Catherine was connected to our hospital and since she was wanting to relocate, she asked her about it and managed to get the recommendation."

"Ah, well I'm excited to see what happens next." Callie says ending the conversation as their food arrives.

* * *

Walking down the hall on her way to her office, Callie is still a little buzzed from having breakfast with Arizona and Sofia. It was so easy and fun to be around her, that the brunette caught herself more than once forgetting that they weren't together any longer. Just like it was a few weeks ago when they were in the blonde's condo, Callie admits to herself.

"Good morning Dr Torres," Dr James says as Callie approaches.

"Good morning Dr James, did we have something scheduled this morning?" Callie asks confused.

"Oh, ah no. I just wanted to thank you for your vote last night. I heard that you and Arizona spoke on my behalf, so I just wanted to stop by and thank you both." Dr James says casually leaning against the wall while Callie unlocks her door.

"Uh, you're welcome. But it's Arizona's day off today. But I can let her know that you stopped by." Callie says a little nervous to have those green eyes staring at her so intently.

"You and Arizona are together?" She asks, "Well, I should have known. Arizona always had great taste in women."

"Uh thank you, I think." Callie says laughing nervously and opening up her office door. "But we're not currently together," she adds, not sure why she shared that with her.

"Oh?" Dr James says smiling and follows her into the office.

Pausing as she sets up her laptop and turns it on, Callie bites her lip, thinking how to handle this, "You know, I'm not sure that it's really appropriate to discuss my personal life this with you. Would you mind if we don't?" Callie asks pushing back.

"Oh, I get that and Dr Torres, I'm just trying to get a sense of this place, before I make the decision to relocate across the country. Can I ask, what's it like here? Is it hard to meet people?" Tori asks, trying to shift her focus.

"You know, I find it hard to meet people, but then I'm pretty busy with my work and child. Before I had a child, I didn't mind being single in Seattle." Pausing to look at the blonde up and down, Callie adds, "Some how I don't think that you'll have any problems here Dr James, but just keep in mind that we have a few policies about dating in the hospital though."

"Yeah, Bailey already went over those with me." Tori says laughing a little.

"I can imagine that she did. My ex-husband was one of her residents when she and I were 5th years and she hated that." Callie says laughing, "But now she's married to a resident and she's a department head and board member!"

"But they were both attendings when they started dating right?" Tori asks, then adds, "Oh is there a rule about board members dating staff?"

"Not yet," Callie says, mentally kicking herself for walking right into that one. But wait is she talking about dating Arizona? She wonders.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: And I tweaked last chapter just a bit, so this one makes more sense...**_

* * *

Tori walks down the hall after her chat with Callie. Interesting she thinks, I didn't realize the brunette had been married to a guy. Everything that she knows about Arizona, it doesn't surprise her that she would go for a woman like Callie Torres. Although she was surprised about the kid. She didn't think Arizona would go for a woman with a kid, but it just goes to show that they don't really know each other, Tori reminds herself.

"Hello Dr James, congratulations." Maggie says when she notices her standing before the surgical board.

"Oh hello Dr Pierce, thank you." she says greeting the younger surgeon. "I am negotiating now. Do you have any advice?" She asks.

"Advice?" Maggie replies confused.

"Yes, didn't you just negotiate a contract last year?" Tori explains.

"Oh, yes I did. But it's not a good comparison. I was moving here for personal reasons." She replies.

"Oh? I didn't realize that, did you meet someone in Seattle that you moved here for?" She asks.

"No, nothing like that. But it was good to see you again. Good luck with the negotiation. This is a fantastic place to work." Maggie adds before heading off to scrub in for her surgery.

Tori looks over the board noting how many general surgeons are cutting today. Karev, Shepherd and Pierce are all getting ready to operate, but of those there's nothing that interests her. She has an appointment with Jackson Avery later today and she needs to call her attorney to review the contract offer. Spotting Amelia Shepherd, she greets her and walks over to catch her before she enters the scrub room for her surgery.

"Good morning Dr Shepherd," Tori says greeting her and thinking to herself, she has really pretty eyes. "I see that you have a procedure this morning but its not one that I recognize."

"Well Dr James, that's because it's new. Dr Torres and I are working together on a Wounded Warrior project, she builds these amazing prosthetics and we remap the nerves and implant transmitters in the brain, so that the limb can send and receive information to the brain. The procedure that I'm doing today is on a female warrior, who lost an arm in an explosion. I'm going in to remap the nerves while Dr Torres makes a few repairs to the muscles and ligaments to improve the prosthetic reception site." Amelia explains.

"Oh, well this sounds like one that I should observe Dr Shepherd..." She says flashing the brunette a smile and turning to leave.

Watching her walk away, Amelia can't help but wonder what's going to happen when she takes over. Obviously she's going to shake it up with the changes and the fellowship, but what or rather who else is going to get shaken up around here she wonders.

"Amelia?" Callie repeats as she stands beside her about to begin scrubbing.

"Oh Callie, sorry I was just thinking. I, uh, ran into James before I came in..." she says trailing off.

"Yeah, she came by office this morning too. Do you think that there's something between her and Arizona?" Callie asks. "Not that I care, I mean, Arizona is single free to date." She adds.

"No, I'm pretty sure that Arizona isn't who she's interested in." Amelia says glancing sideways at the brunette as the scrub at the sink.

"Oh," Callie says a little relieved and then confused. "But you do think she's interested in someone?"

"I do." Amelia says as she finishes scrubbing and heads into the OR, "I think you know her quite well too."

Confused, Callie looks back down into the sink and finishes scrubbing her hands.

Walking into the OR, she greets the surgical team and prepares for the procedure.

Amelia glances up and notices Dr James is watching Callie's every move. Damn, I wonder if I should mention this to Arizona.

Callie looks over at Amelia and notices that she's watching someone in the gallery, so she looks up too and spots Dr James. Annoyed, she looks over at Amelia and shakes her head. "Not going to happen Shepherd, but you know you should probably check that out. Could be a nice diversion since Hunt left." Callie says sarcastically.

"Hmm," Amelia says. "It wouldn't be the first time, but somehow, I don't think it's me that she's interested in."

"Wait? Really?" Callie says looking over at the smaller surgeon. "How is it I'm just finding this out about you Shepherd? Okay, we need to spend more time together, socially." She adds.

"It's a date." Amelia replies playfully.

"Funny," Callie says moving into position to begin the procedure. Then glancing back up, she says, "You were joking right?"

Shrugging slightly Amelia's eyes dance and Callie can tell that she's smiling behind her mask. Returning the smile, Callie looks down at the patient and Amelia says, ""Let's get started. It's a beautiful day to change lives."

Callie pauses and looks over at her.

"What? I'm just trying it out." She replies, turning to Bohkee for her first implement.

* * *

At her condo, Arizona is editing her journal article and ready for a break. She walks over to turn the stove on to heat up water for tea, when she notices her phone flashing. She has two messages, one from Callie and one from the hospital administration line. She listens to both and then quickly returns the second call. Just as she finishes, her phone rings.

"Dr Robbins," she answers.

"Hey, can you come by the lab today?" Callie asks excitedly.

"Calliope?" Arizona is surprised by how excited she sounds. "What's going on?"

"Just come by the lab as soon as you can and if you haven't eaten lunch don't. We have something to show you." Callie replies.

"Don't eat? Wait, your surgery this morning, what happened?" Arizona asks.

"We don't want to say over the phone, we want to show you. So come in here." Amelia says taking the phone from Callie.

Taking the phone back, Callie asks again, "Please come by. It's important to you and the project."

Setting the phone down, Arizona turns off the stove and puts the tea away. Well, she was taking a break anyway, she realizes. Then grabbing her keys, shoving her phone into her bag, she heads out.

* * *

"Okay, I'm here. What couldn't wait until tomorrow?" Arizona asks as she enters the lab.

Excited, Callie greets her with a light hug and takes her by the hand to lead her over to the table and Amelia turns on the video. They watch it silently and as it ends, Arizona looks at both of them. "Oh my god, did that just happen?" she asks.

Nodding excitedly, they both beam huge smiles at the blonde.

"Now will you let me into that brain of yours?" Amelia asks her.

"Yes, let's do it?" Arizona says excitedly.

"Okay, Amelia call down and admit her and get the lab in here to draw some blood and make sure that everything is good to go." Callie says, still buzzing from the surgery earlier. They've had a lot of success with the arm and shoulder mapping, but they haven't had as much success with the leg mapping. Today during their procedure, Amelia tried a different approach and discovered a different neuropathway affected the nerves in the leg. The female warriors with leg amputations haven't had the same result as the men and until they figured it out, Arizona would not consent to have the mapping done.

After the lab tech leaves and Amelia goes to finish the admission, Arizona looks over at Callie nervously.

"Calliope?" She says softly, "Can I, uh, just say something to you before we do this?"

"Of course, but don't worry. We've got this. And I've got your next prosthetic ready to go, as soon as the mapping is done, you can try it out." Callie explains.

"That's not it. I trust you completely with this and I'm excited." She says smiling, then a more serious look crosses her face and she turns and takes Callie's hand, " I am about to let a neurosurgeon cut into my head and I am a little nervous about that though," she admits.

"That's understandable." Callie admits, squeezing her hand and smiling at her.

"Callie, I know things between us will never be what they were before, I accept that and I know that it hasn't been easy. I just wanted to say that the last few weeks that we've been spending more time together have felt really good. And it means a lot to me that you have let me back in, even if it's just as friends. I know that you've moved on and everything. I just wanted to say that I love you and I treasure having you in my life in any capacity and I'm thankful for Sofia every day." She says tearing up a bit.

"Arizona," Callie says moving her hands to cup the blonde's face, "I have really enjoyed the last few weeks too and this morning, meant a lot to me. You're right that it hasn't been easy for us. Hell, not much about us has been easy, but lately I find myself thinking more and more about you and us. I love you too. I'm not sure that I ever stopped, but let's not rush into anything. Okay?" she says moving in to kiss the blonde lightly.

Closing her eyes, Arizona savors the touch and leans into the kiss.

Pulling back, Callie reaches up and wipes away a tear or two. "Okay, now let's focus back on this procedure." She says still staring intently at the blonde.

Shaking her head lightly to clear it. Arizona smiles at the brunette and behind them Amelia enters the room with a wheelchair. "Your labs look good and you're all admitted." She says bending down to put the patient id bracelet on the blonde's arm.

"Wait, Callie, Sofia will be back from school soon. Can you bring her up so we can tell her what's going on?" Arizona asks.

"Yes, but first we need to get you in your room and prepped for the procedure." Callie reminds her. "Don't worry, I'll make sure that you see her before and we both will let her know what's going on."

* * *

Callie watches Amelia take Arizona to her room and she picks up the phone and calls Meredith to inform her what's happening and see if she can get Sofia and bring her up.

Alex is just walking out of the OR, when he notices that Torres and Shepherd have another procedure together, the patient's name is VIP, which usually means its an athlete, probably a Seahawk, he thinks. Then picking up the phone at the desk he calls Arizona to see if she can do a consult in the morning. Her phone goes straight to voice mail and says that she's out of the office for the rest of the week. "What the hell?" He says out loud.

"What's wrong Alex?" Meredith asks as she approaches the desk.

"I just called Robbins for a consult and she's out of the office for the rest of the week. What's that about?" He asks.

"She's heading into the OR, Amelia and Callie are going to do the mapping for the new leg." She explains to him.

"Today? Did something happen? Why are they doing it so suddenly?" He asks.

"They had a breakthrough on the procedure this morning and since there's a break in her schedule, they decided to go ahead do it today." Meredith replies.

"That's crazy. Well are you available for a consult tomorrow morning?" He asks, then takes a few minutes to outline the case for her.

"Send it to me. I can cover that one." Meredith says agreeing the consult. "Hey are you free right now?" She asks.

"Yeah, I'm due for post ops in about half an hour, what's up?" He asks.

"Go get Sofia and take her to Rm 4311, Arizona wants to see her before she goes into the OR." She tells him.

"Okay, thanks. I'd like to see her before Shepherd gets into her head too." He admits and walks off.

* * *

Finishing up the meeting with Dr James, Jackson pulls out his phone and checks his messages, then races out of the room. Passing Dr James in the hall, he doesn't stop until he ducks into the stair case and disappears.

Curious, Tori follows him and notices that he went upstairs and not down to the ER. Heading up the stairs she decides to go back to the surgical board to see what's going on.

Meredith and Maggie are talking to Jackson excitedly and he's looking very stressed.

"They should have cleared it with me. We can't just have one of our double board certified surgeons undergoing surgery without proper scheduling. There are protocols in place and this is an elective procedure. Her schedule needs to be cleared. I need to have another Fetal surgeon on call to cover while she's out." Jackson is clearly upset with the situation.

"Dr Avery, is there anything that I can do to help. I did complete a fetal medicine rotation in med school. I'm not certified, but if anything that comes in, I'd be happy to work on it." Dr James says walking up to the small group.

"Oh Dr James, well that actually might help for the ER cases." He says turning around to face her, "I've got to go make some calls. Maybe I can get Montgomery on call or something, and I'll get your temporary credentials. Stay here and I'll be back with them." He says before rushing off.

"Montgomery? Any chance he means Addison Montgomery?" Dr James asks Meredith and Maggie.

"That's exactly who he means, why? Do you know her?" Meredith asks.

"Yes, she supervised my fetal medicine rotation when I first joined Boston Gen as Chief of Trauma." Tori explains.

"She's really good and she was on staff here before, before she moved to LA and went into private practice." Meredith explains.

"Oh, I didn't realize that she was affiliated with Grey-Sloan." Tori replies.

"She was married to my husband." Meredith begins to explain, then realizing that it's complicated, she just stops talking.

Tori recalls now, that Meredith's husband died last year, so she doesn't press for her to explain anything further, instead they all turn as Amelia exits the elevator.

"Hey Meredith. What are you doing? Do you want to assist?" Amelia asks as she walks up to the group.

"Isn't Callie going to be in there?" Meredith asks confused why Amelia would want her too.

"Yeah and that's why I want you in there. Just in case, you assisted Derek and you know Callie." Amelia reminds her.

"Okay, yeah sure. I'll scrub in." Then turning to Maggie, she asks, "If this goes long, can you take the kids home for me?"

"Of course," Maggie replies a little nervously.

"You guys live together?" Tori asks a little surprised.

"Yes," Meredith replies.

"We're sisters." Maggie adds.

Now Tori understands why Maggie moved to Seattle. "So Ellis Grey had two daughters?" Tori asks.

"Wait, how did you know that we share a mother and not a father." Maggie asks the blonde.

"My dad worked with Ellis in Boston, he was a surgeon too." Tori explains. "And I know that you're from Boston. It explains a lot, you're both extremely talented surgeons. I've read a few of your case studies." Then turning to Meredith, she adds, "And I understand why Shepherd wants you in that OR, good luck, I'm going to observe this one." Tori says turning to leave the two woman a bit shocked by her revelations.

"This is going to be interesting." Maggie says watching her leave.

* * *

 _ **I'm driving out of town for a wedding, but hoping to be able to post another chapter tonight and/or tomorrow morning. I still can't believe that my cousin is marrying her gf on TGIT... I hope she doesn't get bad lesbian juju... Oh and I'm the officiant, can't skip out early either!**_


	8. Chapter 8

"Look who I found?" Alex says entering Arizona's hospital room.

"Momma why are you in the bed?" Sofia asks as Alex let's her down on the end of the bed.

"Do you remember when I told you about the very special project that Mami and Amelia are working on to help people like me who lost a leg?" Arizona asks and the little girl nods. "Well, it's my turn to get that super special new leg and Mami and Amelia are going to take really good care of me."

"Can I stay here until you come back?" Sofia asks looking around the room.

"Baby, you need to go home with Maggie and Zola tonight. But you can visit me in the morning." Arizona says softly.

"No, Momma. I have to stay here." Then turning around to Alex she asks, "Uncle Alex, will you stay with me until Momma is back?"

"Uh," Alex stammers a minute before he agrees, "Yeah Sof," then to Arizona he adds, "I can drop her by the house after, okay?"

"You're sure? Okay, just let Callie know." Arizona says as Sofia cuddles up to her.

"You're sure about this surgery? It's really sudden." Alex remarks.

"I'm positive about this Alex and it may seem sudden, but to me I'm just glad that it's finally here. I feel like I've been waiting forever to have it." Arizona explains.

"Avery is freaking out, he's trying to get Addison up here. He just gave James temporary privileges, apparently she did a fetal rotation with Addison because she's done everything else." He says sarcastically.

"Alex, she's going to be the new Chief and you'll find that she's an amazing surgeon. Did you know that she has a non-profit and provides disaster aid?" Arizona replies.

"Of course she does. Great, that just means that she'll be gone a lot and then who will be Chief?" He asks.

"Oh, I'm not sure. But I'm positive Jackson is working that out with her." The blonde remarks.

* * *

"Hey Cal, Sofia is staying with me until Arizona is out of surgery." Alex informs her sticking his head into the scrub room.

"Wait, why?" Callie asks looking up.

"She begged Arizona to let her stay and see her out of surgery and I think it's a good idea. She's old enough now to know that surgery is a big deal and she's scared. It's not fair to her or Maggie to send her to the house when she's worried about her mom. So I've got this, okay?" He replies turning to leave after impatiently defending Arizona's decision.

"Alex?" Callie calls out to him.

"What?" He says turning back around.

"Thank you." She says seriously, then adds, "Don't let her have any pop or cookies. We'll have pizza later."

"Deal." He says smiling.

* * *

Walking back into Arizona's room, Alex is touched to see Sofia reading her mom a story, while the blonde struggles to stay awake.

"Hey," he says softly to Sofia.

"They gave Momma some medicine, so I'm reading her to sleep." Sofia explains.

"I told them to go ahead, that you would be right back." Arizona says struggling to stay awake.

"They should have waited for me to get back. I've got her, so just relax." He says gently to the blonde, taking a moment to brush her hair out of her face.

"Is Momma going to be okay Alex?" Sofia asks.

"Yes, she's going to be better than new. Now give her a kiss. We've got to go up to Peds and check on some kids. Do you have your lab coat with you?" He asks.

Giving her mom a quick kiss, Sofia carefully climbs off the bed and replies, "It's in Mom's office."

"Okay, we'll stop by and get it. Can't do rounds without your lab coat." He reminds her.

* * *

"Dr Torres are you done with that?" Amelia asks and Callie sets the small drill down. Then looking over at the anesthesiologist she adds, "Okay, let's bring her out of it and check the placement of the sensors."

Waiting a few moments, Arizona's eyes start to flutter. "Arizona?" Meredith says leaning over her so she can see her.

"Meredith," the blonde says softly.

"Good, you recognize my voice. Now can you open your eyes?" Meredith asks.

Another moment passes and Arizona's eyes flutter open and stay open adjusting to the light in the OR. She moves her eyes carefully focusing on each face and smiles when she see Callie.

"We have facial recognition and control." Meredith replies.

"Arizona, we need you to focus on your leg and raise it up." Amelia instructs her.

Closing her eyes, Arizona imagines that she's raising her missing leg and the screen flashes indicating that she's triggered the correct sensor.

Everyone smiles and Callie says, "Perfect!" The two surgeons alternate instructing the blonde in a series of commands to test each sensor and ensure that they are working properly.

After a few minutes, Arizona seems to nod off. "What just happened?" Callie asks panicking a little.

"Arizona, open your eyes." Meredith instructs her.

No response. The anesthesiologist begins reviewing his settings. "Dr Shepherd?" he asks, waiting for instruction.

"Hold on, just let me..." Amelia says turning back to the sensors and gently inspecting them to determine what's causing this response.

"Wait, that one. Her eyes fluttered," Callie says suddenly, moving towards Amelia.

Stepping in front of her, Meredith says, "Dr Torres give her room to work."

"Dr Grey, move out of my way." Callie says firmly.

"No. Dr Torres stand down or you'll be removed from this OR." Meredith replies just as firmly.

"I'd like to know who thinks they will remove me from this OR. Amelia, talk to me!" Callie replies sharply.

"I've got this Torres, give me another minute." Amelia says adjusting the sensor.

"Dr Torres, she's fine. Look her vitals are low but she's not in any distress." Meredith points out to her.

"Then why isn't she awake?" Callie asks angrily. "Shepherd!" She repeats loudly.

Calmly, Amelia steps back around and softly says Arizona's name.

She opens her eyes again slowly and then noticing the tension in Callie's posture, she asks, "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong. You did great." Meredith says quickly to reassure her.

"I had to adjust one of the sensors," Amelia explains lightly.

"So we're done?" Arizona asks.

"Yeah, we're done." Amelia says brightly, then nods to the anesthesiologist to put her back under.

* * *

"There's nothing wrong with the sensor. That has happened before Callie, you're over reacting." Amelia counters as they scrub out of surgery.

"She just went unconscious Amelia, is that going to happen again?" Callie asks concerned.

"Look, I get that she's your wife," Amelia says pushing back.

"Ex-wife." Callie interrupts her.

"And your child's mother, so you're not thinking like a doctor, that's why I had Meredith in there. You know that this happens when we first implant the sensors, it's part of the process. This is no different than what has happened with almost every implantation." Amelia reminds her.

"But it was Arizona and she's ..." Callie says trailing off and sinking down to the floor losing it for a moment.

Kneeling down quickly beside her, Amelia pulls her in and says, "She's fine Cal. We did it."

"I know, but I was so scared for a moment that it didn't work and we made it worse." Callie confesses tearfully.

"That didn't happen. So let it go. Okay?" Amelia says stroking her friend's hair softly.

Wiping her eyes, Callie pulls back from the embrace. "God, I'm a mess. I'm sorry about that."

Sitting back on her heels to give the other woman some room, Amelia wipes her own eyes and says, "It's okay. I can't imagine what this is like for you. But let's go join Meredith in post op and see if we can get Sofia in there, you know how worried that little girl is about her Momma."

"Oh god, I forgot that Sofia is waiting with Alex," Callie says scrambling to get up from the floor. Then she takes a moment to splash water in her face. "Do I look okay? I don't want to scare her into thinking something is wrong."

"You look fine." Amelia says, "Let's go."

* * *

Turning the corner to the post op, Callie surprised to hear Sofia chattering. As she enters the room, she spots her daughter on Alex's phone sitting in a chair beside Arizona's bed.

"Why is she in here already?" Callie hisses at Alex.

"Meredith came and got her. Arizona was asking for her." He explains.

"Mami, grandma wants to talk to you." Sofia says when she sees Callie.

"Okay," Callie says taking the phone. "Hello Barbara."

As Callie updates Arizona's mom, she watches Sofia carefully watch Amelia examine her mother.

Hanging up the phone, Callie hands it back to Alex. "Why did you call her?" She asks confused.

"She paged me, so I had to call her." He explains, "She freaked out when she got Arizona's out of office message and then couldn't get a hold of you so she paged me. Jeez, I can't believe you didn't tell her parents about this surgery." He adds.

"There wasn't a lot of time and Arizona wanted to wait until morning." Callie explains, then turning to the blonde she says, "Hey."

"Sorry about Mom, you were right. I should have called her." Arizona says smiling at the brunette. "Thanks Alex."

"You're welcome and now I'm going to take this one out for pizza before dropping her off at Meredith's." He says crossing over to put his hand on Sofia's shoulder.

"Mami, Alex and I did rounds today." Sofia says brightly to Callie.

"Did you wear your lab coat?" Callie asks her daughter.

"Of course Mami, you can't do rounds without your lab coat." Sofia replies matter-of-factly.


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: I'll admit the premier sort of took the wind out of this story for a minute, but now I've got it back. As usual, I'll just ignore the show and write my own thing.**_

* * *

"Dr Karev, I didn't know that you had a child." Dr James says when she spots him leaving the hospital with Sofia in his arms.

"Oh Dr James, I didn't realize that you were still here." He replies. "Oh and this isn't my kid, this is Sofia, Callie and Arizona's kid."

"Oh really? Well Sofia you are a very pretty girl. Just like your Moms." Tori says speaking to the young girl.

Hiding her face in Alex's neck, Sofia softly says thank you.

"Sorry, she's a little shy and quite tired. I, uh need to get her to bed." He explains.

"Well nice to meet you Sofia and good night Dr Karev." She says as he turns to leave.

Deciding that she's not quite ready to return to her hotel room, Tori turns abruptly and heads up the stairs.

"Hello." Tori says entering the blonde's room carefully checking to make sure she's alone.

"Oh, Tori, hello." Arizona says still a little out of it from the surgery.

"Wow, you've had quite the day. I gather this surgery was pending, it's a part of the Wounded Warrior project, right?" She asks.

"Yeah, Dr Shepherd and Dr Torres had a breakthrough this morning on another case. They've held off on implanting my sensors because they had yet to isolate the neuropathway needed for me to be able to control the prosthetic. Each amputation affects the neuropathways differently and brain mapping for these sensors is still incomplete. In this mornings procedure, they were exploring new pathways and found one that they thought would work for me. So they decided to go ahead and implant the sensors." Arizona explains.

"Fascinating. And you weren't worried about undergoing this experimental procedure on your brain?" Tori asks.

"Are you kidding, I was terrified. But I trust Amelia and Callie completely." She says confidently, wincing a little.

"Does your head hurt? It look like you have a morphine pump, if you're in pain, you should use it, you know?" Tori points out to the blonde. Surgeons are a stubborn bunch, she thinks.

Reaching over to grab the button, Arizona pushes it and closes her eyes to let it take effect.

Watching, Tori decides to continue the conversation to distract her. "Shepherd and Torres are impressive. I've been reading up on this project all day and I observed your implantation." Tori informs her, "I just can't imagine... Let me just say, it was very impressive. Amelia is nothing like her brother, but then she's exactly like him."

"I know what you mean." Arizona says and smiles.

The morphine is taking affect, Tori can tell, so she moves to a safe topic, "Your daughter is beautiful, I just ran into Karev on the way out." Tori explains.

"She's looks so much like Calliope, it, uh, freaks me out sometimes." Arizona admits, probably talking more freely now that the medicine has kicked in.

Laughing softly to herself, Tori smiles. "I never pegged you for one to have a child, Arizona."

"Yeah? Me either. But then maybe you haven't been in love. Tori, have you? Have you been in love really?" Arizona asks. Getting no response, Arizona continues talking, "I thought that I had, I thought that what was her name, Sonya? Sandra? Oh come on, you dated her after me, what was her name?" Arizona asks the other blonde.

"Steph, Stephanie. You know maybe I should leave, you're a little bit..." Tori begins to leave.

"Oh come on, we're friends now right? Any way, I was saying Stephanie, I thought I was in love with her, but when I met Calliope, I realized that I had never been in love. She's fricking amazing. Do you know that she made cartilage in the lab? She single-handedly saved multiple pro athlete's careers." Arizona says completing her little rant.

"Well, it's obvious that you're still in love with her." Tori observes.

"Tori, how could I not be, have you met her?" Arizona counters dreamily.

"Hey, what's going on in here?" Amelia asks entering the room and giving Tori the side eye.

"I'm just visiting an old friend." Tori explains.

"Amelia!" Arizona exclaims when she looks over and sees her friend. "You're beautiful. I mean really beautiful."

"You've been hitting the morphine pump a little hard, we may need to scale that back." Amelia teases.

"Is everything alright?" Callie asks entering the room, concerned when she see both James and Shepherd with Arizona.

"I'm fine Calliope. Come here." Arizona replies patting the bed beside her.

"Okay, so I'm going to head out ladies, good night. Dr Torres, you have a great evening." Tori says as she leaves the room.

"What was that about?" Callie asks sitting down on the bed beside Arizona. Then suddenly she feels the blonde pulling her down, "Arizona what are you doing?"

"Kiss me. I missed you." She says smiling at the brunette.

"Amelia come here, there's something wrong." Callie says freaking out by Arizona's attention.

"Callie, there's nothing wrong. Everyone is affected differently by anesthesia. Apparently, she's affectionate when medicated." Amelia explains, checking her pupils just to be safe. "I'm going to go now." she says as Arizona pulls Callie down so she can kiss her.

"Great." Callie says, then she turns to give the blonde a quick peck.

"I love you." Arizona says pulling Callie in closer.

"I, uh, I love you too." Callie says a little uncomfortably. What the hell is going on? She wonders. Is this really just the anesthesia?

"Why don't you come here, I want you closer." Arizona says pulling on the brunette's arm.

Acquiescing, Callie lays down beside her and Arizona puts her head on her shoulder. "Much better." She says happily.

Turning her head, Callie looks at the blonde in repose. She's so beautiful, reaching up, she moves a strand of hair away from her face and the blonde reaches up and captures her hand. Resting it on her stomach, intertwining their fingers.

The closeness makes Callie tremble nervously. The two of them haven't been this close in over a year, and now she feels so much as Arizona pulls her closer and curls up into her, kissing her neck in her sleep. Closing her eyes, Callie tries to calm her breathing and just relax. Obviously, Arizona needs this comfort, so she decides to just go with it. As soon as she's asleep, I'll slip out and she'll never know. She won't have to know. Callie tells herself.

* * *

It's the light that wakes her up, then it's the realization that someone is staring at her. Opening an eye, Callie realizes that Arizona is awake and it's morning.

"Oh god, Arizona. I'm sorry. I fell asleep." Callie says sitting up.

"I thought that I was dreaming," Arizona says softly, tucking an arm behind her head, then realizing that she still has bandages on her head.

"You, ah, you asked me to lay down with you. Last night, you..." Callie says hoping to explain.

"I remember. Calliope, thank you for being here. I guess, the anesthesia removed my filter." Arizona admits embarrassed. "I, uh, I just... oh god, Tori was here. I said some things to her too."

Smiling at the blonde, Callie starts to laugh.

"It's not funny. Oh god, this is embarrassing." Arizona says quietly. "What did I say to Amelia?" She asks a little panicked.

"You told her she was beautiful, that's all I heard." Callie says still a little amused by the unusually reserved Arizona suddenly without a filter. "I was worried, I thought you were having a stroke or something."

"No one else was here, right. I don't remember anyone else. Oh wait, Alex and Sofia were here." Arizona remembers.

"Yes, but you were fine when they were here. I think maybe you hit the morphine pump and it interacted with the anesthesia that was still in your system. I've never seen you react to anesthesia or morphine like that before." Callie reminds her.

"Oh right, that must be it." Arizona replies considering what Callie has said. "Thank you again for staying. I hope you weren't too uncomfortable."

"Actually, I had expected to leave once you were asleep." Callie admits, standing up and stretching. "But I slept right through the night. Can I get you anything?"

"No, I should be released this morning right? Then when can I get fitted with the prosthetic?" Arizona asks.

"Whoa, hold up." Callie says. Then glancing out the door, she spots Amelia and Dr James talking. "Oh crap."

"What? What's wrong?" Arizona asks worried.

"Nothing, it's just that Amelia and Dr James are on their way in and I obviously just spent the night here." Callie says embarrassed.

"Hey, good morning Callie, Arizona." Amelia says smiling broadly at the two women. "How was your night?" She pauses as she looks at Callie, then turns like she was asking Arizona the question.

"It was good. I slept great. Can I be released now?" Arizona asks impatiently.

"Well, I need to consult with your ortho doc. Oh, Dr Torres, I didn't see you there. What do you think? Is our patient ready to be released?" Amelia asks trying not to laugh at her own joke.

Behind her Tori has to smile, Amelia Shepherd is hilarious and handling this quite well. The two women are obviously embarrassed, so she's teasing them but still being professional.

Hearing Tori's soft laughter, Amelia turns around, "Oh Dr James, Arizona, Dr James asked to observe your exam this morning, is that okay with you?"

"It's fine." Arizona says scooting to the side of the bed.

"Hey wait, where are you going." Callie says moving in front of the blonde. "You're not cleared to stand yet. Shepherd, get over here and do the neuro exam."

Amelia puts a hand on the blonde's shoulder and begins the exam. Carefully observing her and noting each response.

"Lay down, Arizona." Amelia says seriously, then over her shoulder to Dr James, she says. "Dr James, would you please step out in the hall and tell the nurse at the desk to bring in an EEg." Then moving back to Arizona's side, Amelia says, "I need you to relax and stay calm. You're blood pressure is a little high, so let's practice some biofeedback and get that down, you can do that for me right?" Amelia asks the blonde.

"What the hell is going on?" Callie asks worriedly.

"Amelia, what's going on?" Meredith asks pushing the EEg machine into the room.

"I think one of the sensors has slipped and is pressing on her optic nerve." Amelia says as Meredith moves over to examine the blonde. "See?" she says pointing the light in so the other doctor can see what she's seeing.

"How is the EEg going to help?" Callie asks.

"If the sensors are where they are supposed to be, then it won't be much help, if one has slipped, then it will show us which one. I'm pretty sure I know which one, but I want to check them all before we move her." Amelia explains.

Meredith has the machine all set up and Amelia begins to check each sensor. Two of them have slipped.

"This doesn't make any sense, Callie she slept through the night. Didn't get up or anything right?" Amelia confirms.

"No, she was in bed the whole time. It's a small bed, we didn't move. Basically, we woke up in the same position that we fell asleep in." Callie explains, no longer concerned that anyone knows.

"Okay, well we need to take you back to the OR, Arizona you'll be awake the whole time, so I can talk to you, okay?" Amelia explains to her.

"Yes, but Amelia do you know why they moved?" Arizona asks her.

"It has happened before, but it doesn't happen often. I'm not sure. This is new technology and I don't have to tell you what that means. But you know that if there was a real problem, I would tell you. Right?" Amelia says looking her right in the eyes.

As Meredith and Amelia take Arizona back to the OR, Dr James walks over to Callie and says, "Dr Torres why don't we go get you some coffee while they are prepping her for the procedure." She can only imagine that the brunette is confused and worried.

"Uh, okay. Yeah, if you don't mind. I'd like to go freshen up and I'll meet you there." Callie says backing down the hall.

* * *

"Hey, I tried to call you. I just dropped Sofia off at daycare." Alex says when he sees Callie enter the locker room. Then looking up he stares at her a moment, "Dude what's going on? You look like crap."

"I, uh, stayed here last night and Amelia is taking Arizona back into surgery, the sensors shifted. I just need to... " her voice trails off and she sits down stunned. "I can't lose her Alex. Fuck, why did I talk her into doing this?" Callie says putting her head in her hands.

"You didn't talk her into anything Torres. You, of all people know that she is stubborn as hell and doesn't let anyone talk her into things. She made this decision on her own. What did Amelia say? Has this happened before? You've done this procedure, what like four or five times? It's new technology, this stuff happens." He says calmly. "Now what do you need in here? Fresh scrubs?" He says going over and picking out a pair and tossing them to her. "Change, brush your hair and your teeth. I'll be right back."

In the hall he takes his phone out of his pocket and calls Jo. "Hey can you do rounds for me? Arizona's going back into surgery, there's a problem with her sensors and I've got to be with Torres, she's a freaking mess." He explains.

"Hey, hey can I see your tablet a moment." He asks flagging done one of the new interns, that he hasn't bothered to learn his name yet. Handing it back to the nameless intern, he turns back around and goes into the locker room. "You decent Torres?" He calls out.

"Yes, let's go. What OR is she in." Callie asks leading the way.

"She's in four." Alex says as they get in the elevator.

Callie nods, then pulls out her scrub cap and puts up her hair and ties it on.

"Oh no you don't Torres. You're not scrubbing in on this one. It's not Ortho, it's neuro. Meredith is in there with her." He says stepping in front of her as the elevator doors open.

"MOVE Karev!" She says loudly. "You don't want to piss me off right now." She adds firmly.

"Callie, listen to me. Amelia has this and Meredith is in there with Arizona, she's not alone. I know she's scared, but dude you'll freak her out if you're in there, she'll worry about you and that is not what she needs to be doing in there." Alex speaks rapidly trying to get her to listen.

"Dr Torres, I was waiting for you." Dr James says joining Alex at the elevator. She overheard everything and understands that they need to keep her out of that OR. "I got your coffee, black like you asked." Tori continues to act like nothing is wrong. "Why don't you come out of the elevator?" She says reaching out to the brunette and taking her hand. Glancing at Alex, she nods at him to go ahead.

He finally understands and rushes ahead to stand in front of the door to the OR.

Tori continues to ask Callie questions as they walk and Callie begins to relax as she talks about the project. She even takes a sip of her coffee. As she calms down, she glances over at Alex still blocking the door and says, "It's okay Alex, I get it. I'm not going in, but can we at least go into the gallery so we know what's going on?"

As they enter the gallery, they are surprised to hear the three women chatting about the kids as Amelia makes the adjustments. Ever so often they do a check with Arizona, but otherwise they are just calm and chatting. Callie sits with her mouth open slightly, amazed that everything is okay.

After a few more minutes, Amelia looks up to the gallery and waves at them and gives them a thumbs up.

Still in shock that nothing bad happened, Callie looks over at Alex. "Thanks Alex, I kind of lost it there for a minute. You're right everything is fine. Go ahead, you're missing your rounds." She adds.

Looking over at Dr James, he shrugs and asks, "You got her?"

"Yes, I've got her." Tori replies to him.

"I guess I owe you thanks as well. You don't even know me, so I really appreciate your assistance today." Callie says a little embarrassed.

"Dr Torres, every surgeon can relate to this situation. No one wants to see their loved ones going under the knife, even if they'd trust the surgeon with their own life." Tori says softly.

"Arizona and I, we, uh aren't together." Callie says trying to explain.

"From what I've seen, you're not exactly not together either." She replies, "I get it Torres, it's complicated. Women are complicated, relationships are complicated, so put that together and it's as complicated as it can get."


	10. Chapter 10

Callie waits for Meredith and Amelia outside Arizona's recovery room. Tori left for a meeting with Jackson and Bailey is sitting with her now. The procedure went well, they know that. But Callie is still nervously waiting to see her.

"I don't know what happened. We just slept." Callie repeats.

"Torres, I don't need to know what you did or didn't do in bed with Robbins last night. Although I do question why you were there, she just had sensors implanted in her brain!" Bailey exclaims.

"She asked me to stay, she was scared. That's all it was." Callie says.

"Keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll believe it." Bailey remarks.

"I thought you were staying out of my personal life?" Callie says sarcastically.

"Oh I am trying to, but you need help. You're still in love with her you and you're an idiot if you don't know that she feels the same way." Bailey says bluntly.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Callie says dismissing her.

"Okay, then why have you spent the last two years working on designing a new leg for her?" Bailey asks.

"Miranda, I've been working on designing prosthetics for the Wounded Warrior Project, Hunt brought it to my attention, it just happens that Arizona will benefit from the project." Callie explains.

"Torres, two years ago you were growing cartilage in the lab. Two years ago, Arizona lost her leg and you switched your focus from cartilage to prosthetics. Sure Hunt introduced you to the project, but why do you think he did that?" Bailey asks.

"Because he has faith in me and my abilities." Callie replies smugly.

"And he knew that you'd do this for her. Because of her. Admit it to yourself, then admit it to her." Bailey says just as smugly.

Annoyed, Callie folds her arms and glares at Bailey silently.

"Callie?" Meredith says as she enters the waiting area. "Arizona is asking for you."

Standing up quickly, the Latina rushes to follow her, "Is everything okay? She's okay, right?" Callie blurts out.

"Yes, she's okay." Meredith replies, then asks, "Are you? Are you okay?"

"Me? Of course. Why wouldn't I be okay?" Callie asks. "I mean, yeah, I was worried about her. Weren't you worried about her?"

Nodding, Meredith replies, "Yes, I was worried about her. But you were more than worried, you thought you were going to lose her, which doesn't make any sense considering that the two you aren't together and haven't been together for two years. But right now, neither of you is acting like you're not together, so it's a little confusing to me. Is it confusing to you?"

"Uh, yeah. It is confusing to me." Callie says clearly, stopping just outside the door but looking directly at the blonde lying in the bed in the recovery room. "But right now, she's asking for me. So I'm going to go in there and be there for her and maybe things will get less confusing," Callie admits to her friend.

* * *

"Hey," Callie says walking over to the bed and taking Arizona's hand.

"You're here." Arizona says, relief visible on her face. She keeps closing her eyes, still struggling against the anesthesia.

"Of course I'm here." Callie says squeezing her hand. "I've been here the whole time Arizona."

"You have?" Arizona asks confused. "Y-You weren't in the OR, so I thought that you were busy or something." She adds unable to stop the tears from leaking out of her eyes.

"I wasn't in the OR because Shepherd wouldn't let me be in the OR." Callie says softly, "But I was watching and you did great. Everything went perfect." She carefully wipes her own tears away with her sleeve, not wanting the blonde to notice them.

"Calliope?" Arizona says so softly that at first Callie thinks that she imagined it, but then she repeats it and Callie bends closer to her to hear.

"I'm right here, honey what is it?" She asks

"Thank you for being here. I know things between us aren't great... this means a lot to me. Thank you." She admits.

"Oh my god, Arizona." Callie exclaims, "There's nothing that could ever stop me from being here for you, okay? I love you. We're family, we have a child together and I will always be here for you."

Opening up her eyes again, Arizona sees Callie's face and knows that she's being very honest right now. Reaching up, she wipes away a tear as it makes its way down her face. Then she closes her eyes again. Unable to stop herself, Callie leans forward and lightly kisses her lips. Arizona drifts off again and Callie pulls away. Taking a moment to wipe the tears running down her face, she takes a deep breath and composes herself.

Then she turns around and sees Meredith at the door and she asks. "Oh my god, have you seen Sofia? Alex took her yesterday and then everything this morning. I'm a terrible mother!" She says about to spin out.

Pulling the brunette over away from Arizona's bedside, she tells her, "You're not a terrible mother. And Alex and Jo have her up on Peds. Jo brought her in earlier to see Arizona before the procedure and she's fine. You trusted them to take care of her and they have." Meredith reminds her.

"I didn't even think of her this morning. Meredith what kind of mother does that?" Callie says still being critical of herself.

"Callie, the kind of mother who knows that her child is safe and being taken care of. Now what are you going to do about this?" Meredith asks gesturing to Arizona. "You both obviously still have feelings for each other. So do something about it!"

* * *

Taking advantage of the blonde sleeping in the recovery room, Callie makes her way up to peds to see their daughter.

As she comes off the elevator, she hears Sofia talking to Alex and she smiles. The little girl is wearing her lab coat and she's imitating what she's seen them do with patients.

"Dr Sofia, can I have a consult?" Callie asks as she approaches them.

"Mami!" The little girl exclaims, "Can I see Momma now? Is she all better?"

"You can see her in a little bit, she's still sleepy from surgery. Have you had a good time with Uncle Alex and Jo?" Callie asks.

"Oh, yes. We just finished rounds." Sofia informs her.

"Really?" Well I need to go do rounds, would you like to come with me?" Callie suggests.

"Okay, but then we can see Momma?" Sofia asks.

"Yes ma'am. Rounds and then we will visit Momma." Callie says agreeing to those terms. Then turning to Jo and Alex, she thanks them for taking care of her. "I didn't plan on staying here last night. I thought that I would be home." She explains.

"It's no problem. We stayed at your place and then Jo came over this morning and brought me scrubs so I could shower." Alex replies.

"Yes, and then we snuck in and visited Arizona and found out that she was going back in this morning." Jo adds. "So we just kept this one out of daycare and busy up here with us."

"Thank you for doing that. You both are awesome. I'll get her down to daycare later after we see Arizona." Callie adds.

* * *

"There's my girls!" Arizona says brightly when Callie and Sofia enter her room later that morning.

Callie can't help but return the smile, it's been awhile since either of them have used that particular phrase.

"How are you feeling?" Callie says, watching Sofia climb right up on the bed.

"I'm good. I hate this contraption though." Arizona says referring to the brace that Amelia installed to keep her from moving her head.

"It's just a precaution." Callie reminds her.

"Momma, Momma, I did rounds with Alex and Mami today." Sofia says excitedly, curious about the halo brace.

"Oh my, you've been very busy sweetheart." Arizona says reaching out to run her fingers through Sofia's long hair. Staring at the little one who reminds her so much of her mother.

Watching them contentedly, Callie sits on the edge of the bed and Sofia leans back on her.

"I'm hungry," the little girl says suddenly.

"Oh well, so am I." Callie admits and looks over at Arizona. "Have you eaten anything yet?" She asks, suddenly realizing that Arizona had nothing last night but jello.

"Actually, I haven't." The blonde admits and just then Amelia enters the room.

"How's the patient?" She asks.

"The patient is starving and has a headache." Arizona replies, glaring at the neurosurgeon.

"Okay, okay. You can eat now. I just told the nurse to order you a tray." Amelia says, trying not to laugh.

Then she motions to Alex to enter the room. He comes bearing take out from the Chinese place down the street.

"Don't get excited there blondie, it's just steamed rice and vegetables for you right now." Amelia informs her.

"I don't care. I haven't eaten since toast yesterday morning." She admits.

Callie takes the containers and opens them for her and hands her a fork, so she can eat out of them. Then she does the same thing for Sofia. Amelia and Alex have already begun eating theirs too.

After a few bites, Arizona looks back over to Amelia and asks, "When will you take this thing off and when can I go to PT and walk with the new prosthetic?"

"Says the patient who just got out surgery." Amelia replies teasing her. "Okay, here's the deal. You take it easy the rest of the day and I'll come back in and we'll test again. But you're staying another night and then if everything is good in the morning, we'll discharge you and take you to PT. But the rest is up to Dr Torres."

Arizona looks at Callie and smiles and bats her eyes, "Dr Torres?" She asks sweetly.

"We'll see. I don't want to commit to anything until you're discharged." Callie says cautiously.

"Okay, we'll see." Arizona repeats and everyone is a little shocked that she is taking it so well.

Then the blonde turns to her daughter and asks, "Sofia, do you want to see Momma walk tomorrow on her new super special leg that Mami built?"

"Yeah! Oh Mami, can I? I wanna watch Momma walk! You said that her new leg was awesome. I wanna watch!" Sofia says excitedly.

"Really? You're using our daughter to get your way?" Callie says raising an eyebrow. Trying not to smile. She hates that she can't just acquiesce, but she'll be damned if she makes another promise to the blonde that she can't keep.

"Please Calliope?" Arizona asks sweetly.

"Arizona, probably. But I can't say for sure until we see where we're at tomorrow." Callie says, still avoiding making a promise to her.


	11. Chapter 11

"Slowly. Just stand please." Callie directs the blonde while Amelia watches the monitors.

"It feels really good. I think I can..." Arizona lifts the leg to take a step.

"STOP!" Callie yells and moves to stand directly in front of her. "Arizona, I need you to do this slowly." Callie reminds her and then nods to Craig to come and put the belt on her.

"That's not necessary." Arizona says as he slips the belt around her.

"It is actually. You've been in the OR twice in the last two days, you're not going to fall in here and end up back in there on my watch, okay?" Callie asks her sarcastically.

"Okay, fine. But now can I take a step?" She asks excitedly.

"Craig are you ready?" Callie asks him. He nods and Callie checks everything one more time. Arizona is standing between the bars, Craig has a hold on the belt, she takes a breathe and looks over to Amelia who gives her a thumbs up.

"Arizona, would you please raise your leg and lower it slowly." Callie directs her.

The blonde does as requested and Callie looks over to Amelia. She nods again, so Callie continues to take her through the commands.

"Okay, that's enough for today." Callie says as she moves the chair over for the blonde to sit down.

"No, wait. Just one more time. It feels great. It's perfect Calliope." Arizona says not wanting to take it off.

"Sit please. We need to check it. And you have to build up to this gradually." Callie reminds her.

The blonde sits down annoyed. "Dr Torres, would you come here please?" Amelia asks.

"It's fine Amelia, just give me a minute." Arizona says and she centers herself. The two surgeons watch as her heart rate and pulse slow, then her blood pressure reports again and it's lower as well.

"I still think she's in pain. Craig, would you remove the prosthetic?" Callie asks as she walks back over to where they're sitting.

"She has swelling," he remarks. "Nothing we haven't seen before."

Following Callie over, Amelia kneels down and does a neurocheck. "There's pressure on her optic nerve, it might just be a little swelling," she says, "But I'm readmitting you and keeping you overnight."

"What?" Arizona asks loudly, "Amelia, you're being overly cautious and it's not necessary."

"Last time I checked, you were the patient and I was the neurosurgeon, so I decide what's necessary," Amelia reminds her. "I'll meet you up there. Please put her in a wheelchair and nothing strenuous, okay?"

"Fine." Arizona replies annoyed at the set back.

"It's not necessarily a set back." Callie points out, knowing that the blonde feels that it is.

"It feels like one," she counters, tears slipping down her face.

"Hey, hey no it's not." Callie says, then she looks up at Craig and asks, "Would you go get the wheelchair?"

Turning back to the blonde, she says, "You did great today. And you may get your wish and walk out of here after all, it just won't be today."

Arizona nods and moves into the wheelchair.

"Will you take her up?" She asks Craig. "Arizona, I've got to finish up my day. I'll be up as soon as I can. I'll bring Sofia and we'll have dinner together, okay?" Callie asks.

"Thanks Calliope. That would be great." She replies a little defeated.

* * *

"When did her blood pressure spike?" Callie asks when she steps into Amelia's office.

"Here and here," Amelia points out.

"Johnson did that too and it was the prosthetic fit." Callie reminds her.

"But he didn't have the optical swelling." Amelia counters.

"That maybe unrelated. The blood pressure spike could be caused by pain from the ill fitted prosthetic." Callie counters.

"Or it could be there's nothing wrong with the prosthetic and the high blood pressure spike is due to the pressure on the optic nerve, I want to check that sensor again." Amelia replies.

"She's not going to be happy about going back into the OR." Callie points out.

"We don't have to go back to the OR, we can do the check tomorrow morning in the PT room. I'll set it up." She replies.

"Okay, but I'm still going to check the fit on the prosthetic." Callie replies.

* * *

In her office finishing up her paperwork, Callie's phone rings and she picks it up without looking at it, "Dr Torres," she says flatly.

"Callie, it's Penny. You must be busy." She says realizing that she got the doctor voice.

"Oh, just finishing up before I go get Sofia. How are you? I'm sorry that I haven't been in touch. You wouldn't believe the week that I've had." Callie begins to explain.

"I was trying to wait for you to call me, since you said that you would." She replies and waits for Callie's response.

"Uh, right. You know things have really changed for me and I don't think that we should see each other any more." Callie says quickly.

"Yeah, that's what I thought was happening. You're getting back together, aren't you?" She asks a little angry.

"This is about us, Penny. We are not a good match, okay?" Callie redirects her.

"You didn't think that last week. Last week, we were good together. I just don't understand this. Can I see you? Can we at least have a conversation face to face?" Penny pleads.

"No, now is not a good time. I'm sorry." Callie says and disconnects the call. Looking up, she notices Meredith standing in the doorway.

"How long have you been standing there?" She asks.

"Long enough, was that her? You broke up with her?" Meredith asks.

"Yes, she's younger, an attending in a fellowship, we're too different and, and..." Callie falters.

"She's not Arizona. I get it." Meredith replies.

"Am I crazy to think that we can make it work this time?" Callie asks her friend.

"It will work out the way it's supposed to work out. Trust the journey," she replies.

* * *

"Hi." Callie says stepping into Arizona's room. "I'll be back with Sofia, but I just wanted to see you first, is that okay?"

"Of course, but are you here as Callie or Dr Torres." Arizona asks nodding towards the socket.

"Oh, Dr Torres first, then Callie," she replies a little nervously, turning to close the door behind her.

"Amelia was just here, she doesn't think it's the fit." Arizona informs her.

"Right, I know. But I just wanted to make sure." Callie says pulling up a chair to the edge of the bed.

Pulling back the sheet, Arizona turns to face her. Callie glances up and then reaches out to touch her stump, carefully examining it for tenderness or any sign of irritation from the socket. Just as she's about to finish, the blonde flinches.

"What was that?" She asks. "Is it tender there?" She asks.

"Ah yeah, it was weird though because the sensation went right down my leg, my leg that isn't there. Callie what's happening?" Arizona asks concerned. "Is this another type of phantom leg pain?"

"No, that means the nerve is back and it means you need a different prosthetic. And I need to tell Amelia, right away." She says taking her phone out and calling her. "Can you come back to Arizona's room?" Callie asks.

A few minutes later, Amelia enters and closes the door behind her. "Okay, what's going on?" She asks curiously.

"Watch this," Callie says pressing softly to trigger the nerve. Arizona's leg twitches and Amelia looks surprised.

"Oh, the nerve is back?" She says excitedly and moves into examine it herself. She hits it first try and Arizona looks uncomfortable.

"Uh, hey how about we stop and tell the patient what's going on?" She says a little annoyed.

Callie explains to her that this means after she passes her neuro exam in the morning, they're going to fit her with a prototype that hasn't been tested yet, it has the ability to flex at the ankle. They've been waiting for one of their patients to respond positively to the nerve graft and she's the first one.

"But I have to make you a new socket, this one won't work with that prosthetic." Callie explains.

* * *

Amelia leaves and Callie sets the socket aside and looks at her watch. "Oh it's later than I thought." She says nervous again.

"Wait, what did you want to see me about?" Arizona asks her.

"Uh, it will have to wait. Your parents are here and bringing dinner and Sofia in five minutes." Callie confesses.

"What? They didn't have to come. Did you tell them to come?" Arizona asks confused.

"No, but they've been talking to Alex and when he told them that you went back into the OR yesterday, they bought plane tickets and I didn't find out until today. They were going to stay at the Archfield, but I told them they could stay with me." Callie replies.

"Oh, well they could just stay at my place. Hopefully, I'll be leaving here soon." She adds.

"If you don't mind can they can stay with me and Sofia tonight? I sort of told her they were going to already." Callie admits.

"Of course, that's fine. Why would you think you need my permission to have my parents stay with you?" Arizona asks confused.

"I just don't want any misunderstandings between us. I don't know what this is that we're doing, maybe it's just us getting through this and it's nothing." Callie says rambling.

"Do you think its nothing?" Arizona asks suddenly.

"It doesn't feel like nothing." Callie replies softly, "But I don't want us to rush into anything, can we just figure it out slowly."

"Uh, yeah. But aren't you dating someone?" Arizona asks bluntly.

"Not any more. We broke up a few days ago." Callie admits.

"Oh Callie, I'm sorry." Arizona replies.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I broke it off with her the night I took you home after the dinner." Callie explains.

Confused, Arizona asks, "Why?"

"Because that night I realized that we're not done. I thought I could be done, but I'm just lying to myself." Callie says, then suddenly the door opens and in walks Sofia with Arizona's parents.

"Mom! Dad!" Arizona says excitedly. "You didn't have to come, but it's great to see you." She admits.

"Well, we felt that we were overdue for a visit and it sounds like you could use a little help right now with this one." Daniel says putting his hands on Sofia's shoulders.

"Is anyone hungry? We brought dinner from that Italian place down the street. Sofia told us what to get." Barbara explains.

"That sounds amazing. I'm starving." Arizona replies, then to her daughter she adds, "Sof, come up here and sit with me and share the table."

Callie and Barbara sit on the end of the bed and Daniel takes the chair. As they eat and talk, Callie can't help but think that this is how it's supposed to be. This is her family and she's really missed it.

* * *

 _ **A/N: I'm going to end this one here. I had not intended to take this long to conclude this story, but I got distracted by other story prompts and now I have two more that I'd like to write. Thanks for reading this one! xo madly**_


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